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Star Pitcher Has His Head in the Game

by Reporter Caitlin Chavez
North Ranch Elementary
Adviser: Michelle Chavez

At the end of the season, I met pitching ace Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks!

My family and I met up with Bryan Pelekoudas, the D-backs’ assistant for player and media relations, in the lobby at Chase Field in Phoenix. He led us through the back door into a big elevator. I went through these rooms that looked like garages with pads on the walls. Pelekoudas said to wait in the dugout, so we waited and enjoyed the scenery!

Suddenly, I heard someone call “Chavez family!” We went through the back door of the dugout and were met with a BIG surprise! There stood Brandon Webb. He shook our hands and sat down. I sat down, too. Webb leads the National League with 22 wins this season. As of press time, he is a top contender for the NL Cy Young Award, which goes to the best pitcher. In 2007, he won 18 games and lost 10.

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be on the D-backs. He answered that fast. “Oh, it feels amazing! It’s a really good organization. The D-backs have many good people involved,” he says. “It’s just amazing to be out there.” He also told me that his new pitch is called a cutter. “I can’t wait until I’m out there playing again,” Webb says.

Meeting Webb made this a day to remember. My brother, Christopher Chavez, says he “was really excited and nervous at the same time.” After the interview, we all got tickets to the game. Thirteenth row—now that is close up! And the D-backs won!

Ed Keeylocko: Keeping America’s History Alive

by Reporter Drema Harmon
Altar Valley Middle School

Mr. Ed, mayor of Cowtown Keeylocko, a cattle ranch about 40 miles southwest of Tucson, is never too busy to give a quick history lesson, sing a ballad or lead a quick tour of his domain.

Mr. Ed was born in South Carolina in 1931. His mother abandoned him in a field, but he was found by a woman who gave him the last name Keeylocko.

He came to Tucson, after serving with the Army in Korea and Vietnam, and attended the University of Arizona. Before graduating, he bought the site where the town now stands.

Cowtown Keeylocko was established in 1975 as a working ranch. His cattle are organically fed and are not given hormones. He breeds animals that are tough enough to defend themselves against predators.

Mr. Ed has “hoboed” all across this land and has an unimaginable knowledge of its history. I asked him about the lawn statue “Jocko,” usually seen as a black boy dressed in the cap and vest of a horse jockey and holding out one hand. Some consider the statue offensive because it stereotypes the way black people look, but it may have a noble origin.

Mr. Ed informed me Gen. George Washington (before he became the country’s first president) wanted to mount a surprise attack on a British encampment during the Revolutionary War.

A young black boy named Jocko Graves wanted to fight, but Washington said he was too young. He asked the boy to, instead, hold the reins of the horses and a lantern for the troops as they crossed the Delaware River.

All night long, Jocko stood there in the ice and snow. When the troops rowed back after the battle, they found the boy had frozen to death, still holding on tightly to the reins and lantern.

The story goes that Washington was so touched by the boy’s sacrifice that, as president, he ordered a statue made of Jocko stepping bravely forward to hold the horses and lantern. It was set up on the lawn of Mount Vernon, his estate in Virginia.

HSM Bigger, Better on Silver Screen

by Reporter Lekha Chesnick
Esperero Canyon Middle School

If you liked “High School Musical” and “High School Musical 2,” you’ll love “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.” It’s definitely the best of the three movies.

Maybe because this HSM was on the big screen (it opened Oct. 24) instead of on TV, the musical numbers are bigger and better. The scenes of the songs were really colorful and nice. And every song had very good choreography.

In the movie, the Wildcats have finally reached their senior year in high school and are stressing over college. Troy (Zac Efron) is stuck between theater and basketball, while Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) is off on a pre-college program at Stanford. Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) and Kelsy (Olesya Rulin) are battling for a scholarship at Julliard, a famous music school.

The acting is so much more powerful and emotional than in the other HSM movies. This movie was more realistic and had better music. I think that Troy sang really well and Gabriella did a better job of dancing.

HSM 3 is playing in theaters now. So go see it—"It’s now or never!"

Horses Help Her with Tourettes

by Reporter Holly Hitchcock
Homeschool As the Arizona Youth Ambassador for the Tourettes Syndrome Association, I was happy when TROT—Therapeutic Riders of Tucson—chose me to help develop a hippotherapy program for people with Tourettes Syndrome (TS).

TS is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary vocal and physical tics. There’s no cure, and very few therapies exist. However, hippotherapy has been making a difference for me!

Hippotherapy provides skill development and recreation through horse care and riding. Every Wednesday, I go to the TROT Ranch to work with Skittles, a Paint-Percheron cross horse. During our sessions, we work on ways to use the movements I learn when I’m grooming, walking and riding Skittles to help me experience some relief from my ticcing episodes.

Even being able to recall the sensation of the horse’s movement when I’m having a “bad tic day"” helps me calm myself and experience muscle relaxation and relief. I am ticcing less, having fewer muscle spasms and sleeping better at night since starting hippotherapy.

I’m now able to get into a mental “zone” where I can let go and almost forget I have Tourettes for periods at a time!

It’s worth the time and effort trying hippotherapy if you have TS.

If you would like more information about Tourettes Syndrome, please call the Tucson TSA at 620-2288. If you would like more information about hippotherapy, please call TROT at 749-2360.

U.S. Constitution Protects the Right to Vote

by Reporter Ames Stevens
Holladay Intermediate Magnet School

A while ago, women weren’t allowed to vote in the United States. Neither were African Americans and people who did not own property.

Now we will have an African American president. Barack Obama, whose father is from Kenya, will be the first biracial man to lead the country. And a woman, Sarah Palin, was the Republican vice presidential candidate.

It's amazing how much election laws and opinions have changed. For example, in the old days you had to stand behind a curtain so nobody could see your vote. Now you just fill out a paper.

And now we have laws that are part of our Constitution to protect people’s right to vote:

• The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, says no citizen of the United States can be stopped from voting because of race.
• The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women the right to vote.
• The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, says citizens do not have to pay a poll tax to be able to vote.
• The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, sets the voting age at 18.

Swimmer Got an Early Start!

by Reporter Heather O’Reilly
Lyons Elementary

Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers came to Bear Essential’s Young Reporters Workshop Oct. 25 to answer the kids’ questions!

Grevers, 23, told us he got off to a fast start when it comes to swimming—he started when he was around 3 months old, before he could even walk! His whole family swims, but he was the first one to compete in the Olympics.

At the Olympics, Grevers won two golds and one silver medal. He says he wouldn’t give it up for anything. In college, Grevers swam for the Northwestern Wildcats. He graduated in 2007 with a communications degree. He now lives in Tucson and helps coach the UofA team. He swims about 40 hours a week.

Grevers says one of the reasons he swims is that he likes to represent his country. At the Olympics he tried not to get nervous. After the preliminaries, the races get more and more competitive.

Grevers, who is 6 feet 8 inches tall, doesn't like to travel because planes don’t have nearly enough leg room.

On the other hand, he enjoys visiting different countries. While at the Olympics, Grevers went sightseeing around Beijing and visited the Great Wall of China, which was an amazing experience for him.

Best of luck, Matt, at the London Summer Olympics in 2012!

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Star Pitcher Has His Head in the Game

by Reporter Caitlin Chavez
North Ranch Elementary
Adviser: Michelle Chavez

At the end of the season, I met pitching ace Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks!

My family and I met up with Bryan Pelekoudas, the D-backs’ assistant for player and media relations, in the lobby at Chase Field in Phoenix. He led us through the back door into a big elevator. I went through these rooms that looked like garages with pads on the walls. Pelekoudas said to wait in the dugout, so we waited and enjoyed the scenery!

Suddenly, I heard someone call “Chavez family!” We went through the back door of the dugout and were met with a BIG surprise! There stood Brandon Webb. He shook our hands and sat down. I sat down, too.

Webb leads the National League with 22 wins this season. He just came in second for the NL Cy Young Award, which goes to the best pitcher each year. In 2006, Webb won his first Cy Young.

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be on the D-backs. He answered that fast. “Oh, it feels amazing!

It’s a really good organization.

The D-backs have many good people involved,” he says. “It’s just amazing to be out there.” He also told me that his new pitch is called a cutter. “I can’t wait until I’m out there playing again,” Webb says.

Meeting Webb made this a day to remember. My brother, Christopher Chavez, says he “was really excited and nervous at the same time.” After the interview, we all got tickets to the game. Thirteenth row—now that is close up! And the D-backs won!

Camelback Kids Release Their Inner Divas

by Reporter Louis Warner
Camelback Desert School North Campus
Adviser: Stacey Lane

Students at Camelback Desert School got to learn more about the world of opera last winter.

When professional opera singer Kathryn Kirby first walked into the room, I was astonished by how terrific she is right away. Opera is telling a story by singing, and Kirby sang in three languages—Italian, French and German. After each skit, we shouted “Brava” because that is how the audience tells a single female performer they would like an encore. Kirby also brought in a box full of opera props that we later got to experiment with.

Kirby is the resident teaching artist in the Phoenix area for Opera in a Box, sponsored by the Arizona Opera. She received her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Arizona State University and has performed all over the East Coast, including at the famous Carnegie Hall and Ground Zero (where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood before the terrorist attacks on 9-11.) Kirby also spent time performing in South Africa with the Plymouth State University Chamber Choir.

Kirby likes singing with the Arizona Opera, but she wasn’t always so comfortable performing. “I had stage fright when I was younger, but now I just get excited to sing,” she says. Training helped. “I first started with piano lessons, then took voice lessons,” she explains.

Kirby showed the class emotions in her music; she was angry, funny, mad, sad and heart broken. Students got to take turns performing skits with her, each time acting out a different scenario with different music and emotions.

Opera in a Box was great! To schedule a performance at your school, visit www.azopera.com.

Discovering the Desert’s Secrets

by Chloe Juriansz
Camelback Desert School North

In April, the students of Camelback Desert School took a springtime adventure trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Second-, third- and fourth-graders saw yellow and black zebra butterflies in the Butterfly Pavilion. The students saw houses made by the desert people, examined alive and dead cacti and made bracelets.

On one stop, students saw a lizard doing push-ups and a ground squirrel running by the trees. The ground squirrel was so friendly that he tried to come up to them for a visit. All the students wrote poems about their favorite thing in the desert and then made a story with a puppet coyote named Bob.

When the story finished, everyone got a handful of seeds and threw them over their shoulders to plant flowers behind them. The visit ended with a leaf hunt.

After visiting the gardens, students went to Papago Park behind the Phoenix Zoo. They ate their lunch and then hiked up the Papago. They felt lucky to see the beautiful view. Students climbed down sideways for better control of their bodies.

Afterwards everyone loaded up on the bus and thought about the desert secret they learned. For more info, visit www.desertbotanicalgardens.com.

Art Lights Up Young Reporter’s Life

by Reporter Nina Patel
New Vistas Academy
Adviser: Stacey Trepanier

Ever since I could pick up a crayon, I have loved to draw. Whether I am coloring inside or outside of the lines, I am free to express whatever emotion I am feeling onto my paper or canvas. Art lights up my eyes and tickles my funny bone.

My parents encourage me by enrolling me in art classes, buying my art supplies and taking me to visit local art museums and galleries.

I have attended art classes at the Monart studio in Mesa for two years. It’s there that I learned about the elements of shape. My teacher also taught me that when it comes to drawing, there are never any mistakes.

I currently take painting classes with a lady who teaches out of her home. She has a master’s degree in art and shares her love of painting with her class every Saturday. She says that painting is therapeutic for a wide array of people and that it may benefit patients suffering from depression or other ailments. I like learning from those who are passionate about their artwork because I feel a connection with them.

The Phoenix Art Museum and The Contemporary Museum of Art in Scottsdale have amazing exhibitions that keep me fascinated and inspired throughout the year.At home, I can draw and paint to relax and unwind. I use oil pastels, watercolors and oil paints. It’s a hobby that I can take with me wherever I go.

My father is an architect and purchases many famous pieces of artwork as part of his job. He sits with me and shows me how to sketch. He also teaches me about different artists and why they create what they create. I hang my painting and sketches throughout our home.

The art education that I receive changes the way I look at the world. Sketching and painting make me better at seeing things because I am forced to slow down and notice the smallest of details about an object.

I enjoy discovering the layers of each subject. Some feelings can’t be expressed through language the same way as they are through art.

Hopefully, I can turn my love of the arts into a career!

Walk Supports Cancer Research

by Reporter Nisha Parasher
New Vistas Academy
Adviser: Stacey Trepanier

Every year in November, thousands of people join together for the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile walk to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.

Last year, Karen Cunningham, a teacher at New Vistas Academy, was one of the 2,500 people who walked in the fight for a cure. Cunningham joined the walk because her best friend was diagnosed with the disease.

“It was an amazing experience. I met people from all over the country that were affected by breast cancer,” she says. “The best part was when the community cheered for us.”

Cunningham had to train for six months for the walk. She woke up at 5 a.m. every morning and walked between 5 miles and 15 miles. This walk, she says, was an unforgettable experience that will be a cherished memory for the rest of her life.

With the help of people like Cunningham, we can find a cure for breast cancer. It is imperative that people of all ages participate.

This year’s Breast Cancer 3-Day walk takes place Nov. 14-16. For more info, call (800) 996-3DAY.

Global Warming and Animals

by Reporter Leah Dight
Red Mountain Ranch School

World, I need your help!

Endangered animals are becoming extinct because of us!

Animals are an amazing part of our world. Some endangered birds help pollinate plants, which helps flowers grow. Endangered animals are all part of our habitat. There is a thing called the circle of life or an ecosystem. If you take one of the animals out, the whole system can fail. We, as humans, have choices and our choices can change the world. If we choose to save endangered animals, we can save the fragile ecosystem. If we don’t save them, the world will not be as interesting or diverse.

If we don’t save endangered animals, who will? No other creature can affect global warming, so we have to! Endangered animals can’t save themselves, and it’s now or never!

Global warming is killing endangered animals. In 50 years, if we don’t do something, polar bears may become extinct. The ice that the polar bears live on is melting, and the bears are drowning!

Here are a few ways to help fight global warming and help endangered species. First, every family should recycle. Second, people should use other sources of energy, like solar power. Third, change your regular incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents.

Couple Lives Dream with Horses!

by Reporter Courtney Ford
Lone Mountain Elementary

Brian and Paula Bausch have always loved horses, even when they were very little.

Now the two work on a ranch and have four horses that are trained at different levels. “It takes a couple months to train a horse just to be ridden on,” Paula says.

Brian has been training and riding horses for 30 years. Paula has been doing that for 17 years. Both do mounted shooting as well. They have won lots of awards—including state, national and world championships. The biggest prize they ever won was a saddle.

One day, Brian and his horse were out riding when a lightning bolt struck just above Brian’s head. Amazingly, his horse didn’t react, which is unusual—most horses would spook!

A Friend for Every Girl!

by Reporter Emily Atwater
Christ Lutheran School

With an American Girl doll, a girl can choose a friend that’s right for her, with a story true to the character or one she creates on her own.

American Girl dolls are very fun for kids between 3 and 14. And if you have a passion for dolls, you can play with them or keep them in your room at any age!

You can dress them up or do their hair and travel with them. The dolls even have mini furniture to play with. I have four that are very fun to play with. Their names are Molly, Marisol, Jess and AJ.

There are dolls available that you can pick out that can look just like you! The Just Like You dolls don’t come with a name so that you can name them yourself.

There’s also a Doll of the Year, and this year it’s Mia the Ice Skater, who’s available until Dec. 31. Not only can you dress your dolls, you can also dress like them. The dolls have sports outfits, pajamas, school clothes and play clothes available. And if you’d like, you can also buy the pets that go with them.

Kit Kittredge has an original doll that comes with the book. With the Just Like You dolls, you can order a book that comes blank so you can fill it out.

American Girl dolls are a lot of fun, visit www.americangirl.com to learn more about it.

Aikido Created as Self-Defense

by Reporter Gabrielle Shaw
Navajo Elementary

What is Aikido? For those of you who don’t know, I will explain a little history about this great martial art.

Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba, who was born in Japan in 1883. He came up with this martial art after seeing his father attacked by the government. He created Aikido so that people could defend themselves and also protect their attacker from getting injured.

Aikido is mainly grappling, throws and joint locks. The defender uses the movement and energy, called momentum, of the attacker against the attacker himself. The most important thing is that you are always safe.

My opinion about Aikido is that it is a great martial art. I have been taking it for over three months so far and have learned many things that are fun and important for my safety. If you like what you have heard about it, then you should give it a try. My dojo is called Aikido of Scottsdale.

We Can Help Save Animals at Risk of Extinction

by Reporter Itzel Nieto
Tertulia Pre-College Community Primary

People have always used animals to get everything they need. Animals are killed for meat, which people eat, and skin, which people make into clothes and other goods.

But the supply of animals and plants is not endless.

About 125 species of birds and 60 species of mammals have become extinct since 1600, which means they disappeared forever. There are approximately 1,000 to 1,100 species of birds and mammals that are now facing extinction. Some animals that are becoming extinct: the Siberian tiger, ocean corals, dolphins, turtles, seals, tigers and rhinos.

We need to do something to stop this from happening. If we go on using nature as thoughtlessly as we have been doing, there will soon be nothing left. We can we help save animals at risk of extinction. Even though there are laws against killing endangered animals, many people hunt them for their beautiful, furry and silky skin. Nowadays, we can get fake fur that is man made. If all of us decide to try such goods, we can save many wild animals from extinction.

Many things that we use, like paper and rubber, are made from trees. If we waste these things, lots of forests need to be cut down. So the animals in the forest lose their homes. We should all try to recycle. Will you help the animals from extinction? We need your help!

Sorry, no stories this month.